Parnering to Remember

Back in in December I read about a Bible memorization project called partnering to remember (you can see the link here). I have always been averse to any memory work, totally convinced I don’t have the kind of mind that memorizes. But as I read the suggestions, as I thought about it, the whole concept grabbed me. Memorizing the whole book of Philippians from the first of the year until Easter, averages about a verse a day.

I seem like the last person on the planet, me with my aging memory, me always unable to remember things long-term (I am a quick study, but a quick forgetter), me with no discipline, me with no “stick-to-it-tiveness”, embarking on a memory plan that will last almost four months. Yeah right, I’ll do that.

Yeah, right I am doing it. And kind of to keep me “honest”, I proclaimed it loud and long that I was going to do it. It was more than a New Year’s resolution. I really felt I needed to do this. I felt it was God-honoring. I felt like it would be good for my spiritual life. I felt it would be good for my brain.

Typically me, I couldn’t wait until New Years, so I jumped in on Christmas day and starting memorizing verses. At first it was really hard to stick to the routine of it. Still my commitment carried me through.

And now here I am in the middle of March, two verses into chapter four. Someone asked, one time, if memorizing Scripture didn’t make you “proud” (and in a negative way, so that maybe you shouldn’t do it, as it would create spiritual arrogance.) I understand that, for I struggle with feeling “proud” that I’ve done this, when I should really be ashamed that I am 58 years old and except for those Bible verses I had to memorize for Sunday School and GA’s in my youth, I have never been interested and willing to subject myself to the discipline.

And it has been wonderful. There aren’t words for what this project has meant to my life.  Every morning over my cup of iced coffee (what, me drink something hot when it’s 100 degrees outside? Are you nuts?), I sit on our balcony and work on my verse of the day. One of the methods is that you review the previous day’s verse and then learn the new verse and then say all the verses you have learned so far. So at this point having done 83 verses, that takes a while. Right now I think I could rattle off chapter one in my sleep, but I still struggle with some parts of chapter 3. (The word cloud, or wordle to the right are all the words of chapter 3, the words that are used more frequently are larger). I can’t believe I’ve never done this before, because it’s just not that hard. Really, those words are coming from MY mouth (or my keyboard…)

But the neat thing is not that I have just memorized the verses, but that they have become a part of my life. They have penetrated into my soul. I have fallen in love with Paul’s words and his life and example. I have wept over his suffering and pain. I have cried in joy over his rich example. I have longed for his degree of intimacy with Christ.  Hardly a day goes by I don’t cry out how I want to make 1:21 the truth in my life: “For me to live is Christ  and to die is gain.” 

I hope to occasionally share some of my insights, thoughts and favorite verses with you. And when I finish the project, I plan to video me saying the whole book and then put it on my blog, as proof that I did it!

I have a notebook with the verses on one side and my commentary on the other side. (That’s what the photo above is, my notebook.)  I think I’ll probably have a lot of sermons coming out of this experience. For sure I will never be the same.

After I finish, I will take some time off (actually no, because for 100 days afterwards I plan to recite the whole book every single day just to set it in place in my brain.) Then I hope to work on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. I hope never to look back and make Bible memorization a part of my life. But why oh why did I wait until I was 58 years old? I could have so much more of God’s Word buried in my heart by now. But it’s never too late to start, right?

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3.14)